Quote of the Day (Studs Terkel, on the ‘Assault Upon Our Intelligence’)

“I’ve always felt… that there’s a deep decency in the American people and a native intelligence — providing they have the facts, providing they have the information. The September 11 assault was horrendous. But there’s another assault that’s taking place. It’s an assault upon our intelligence. It’s an assault upon our sense of decency as well as upon our faiths too, I believe. We are the most powerful nation in the world, but we’re not the only nation in the world. We are not the only people in the world. We are an important people, the wealthiest, the most powerful and, to a great extent, generous. But we are part of the world.” —Pulitzer Prize-winning American oral historian, actor, and broadcaster Studs Terkel (1912-2008) interviewed for PBS “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly,” Dec. 19, 2003

In the two decades since Terkel’s remarks, I would have to say that the “assault upon our intelligence” has grown more relentless, and, in important ways, has even breached longtime defenses.

Quote of the Day (Studs Terkel, on the ‘Tonic’ of Community Action)

“I read somewhere that when a person takes part in community action, his health improves. Something happens to him or to her biologically. It’s like a tonic. When you become part of something, in some way you count. It could be a march; it could be a rally, even a brief one. You’re part of something, and you suddenly realize you count. To count is very important. People say, ‘I’m helpless.’ Of course, if you’re alone. There are so many groups — environmental groups, other groups — but there is no one umbrella.”—Pulitzer Prize-winning American oral historian, actor, and broadcaster Studs Terkel (1912-2008) interviewed for PBS “Religion and Ethics Newsweekly,” Dec. 19, 2003

Exchange of the Day (Doris Lessing and Studs Terkel)

Lessing, in 1969, appearing on Terkel’s radio show: “You do still have gangsters [in Chicago], don't you?”

Terkel: “Yes, but these days they're mostly in business, or politics.”

(The death of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Terkel died leaves the worlds of radio and oral history infinitely poorer. And, despite the comment to Lessing, he proved to be a longer-lasting—and certainly more beloved—institution in his city than its gangsters.)